Aaron Tarfman's memory for a blessing
May. 27th, 2022 05:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
soniaRemembering Aaron Tarfman, tribute by Jonathan Maus. Comments are also worth reading.
I met Aaron back in 2005, like several of the commenters. In the next few years, I saw him at bike rides, bike moves (helping someone move all their stuff by bike), and he even came dancing with me once. We biked down to Reed College and learned a complicated Israeli couple dance that was being taught that night. (Metziut Acheret, I think. It fell out of the repertoire because it was too complicated.)
I was worried in 2009 when he disappeared, and relieved when he returned safe and sound. I hadn't seen him in years, but the news of his death is making me cry. He tried so hard to make the world a better place. I'm so sad that he couldn't find his way through his inner pain to a better place for himself. I wanted him to live, be alive, be well.
Many people in our [Portland] community are mourning Aaron Tarfman today. In the past 24 hours news has spread that he died by suicide on April 29th.
Friends had hoped Aaron was just on another one of his sojourns, like the one he took in 2009. Sadly, this time, he won’t return.
Aaron knew many people in the bike scene and was a dedicated activist who volunteered with many cycling, environmental, and social justice organizations over the years. He was a person wholly devoted to the health of our planet and spent his years doing everything he could to make it better. But while he felt every ounce of the heavy weight of our world, he also had a lightness about him.
I met Aaron back in 2005, like several of the commenters. In the next few years, I saw him at bike rides, bike moves (helping someone move all their stuff by bike), and he even came dancing with me once. We biked down to Reed College and learned a complicated Israeli couple dance that was being taught that night. (Metziut Acheret, I think. It fell out of the repertoire because it was too complicated.)
I was worried in 2009 when he disappeared, and relieved when he returned safe and sound. I hadn't seen him in years, but the news of his death is making me cry. He tried so hard to make the world a better place. I'm so sad that he couldn't find his way through his inner pain to a better place for himself. I wanted him to live, be alive, be well.
